Commutator



Nov; 29, 1938.

c. D. LAKE 2,138,636

COMMUTATOR W 5 i i Q Ill!!! 12m FIG. 1.

' AT'ToRNEy Nov. 29, 1938. c. D. LAKE 2,138,636

GOMMUTATOR Filed June 11, 1936 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 BY Z ' Ai'TORNEY .1 .r- T 6 B n 2 Y M I G I...

C. D. LAKE Nov. 29, 1938.

COMMUTATOR Filed June 11, 1936 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 IIIIIIIIILL QT Wu C Patented Nov. 29, 1938 COMMU'I'ATOR Clair D. Lake, Binghamton, N. Y., assignor to International Business Machines Corporation, New York, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application June 11, 1936, Serial No. 84,677

3 Claims.

This inventionrelates to electrically controlled tabulating machines and more particularly to the accumulators with which such machines are provided.

The principal object of the invention is to provide a simple and compact arrangement for the electrical wiring of an accumulator.

A more specific object is to provide electrical wiring for an accumulator formed as a unitary structure and arranged for ready removal and replacement A further object resides in the provision of a simplified contact brush structure for an. accumulator to permit rapid and ready replacement of the brush structure.

Various other objects and advantages of the invention will be obvious from the following particular description of one form of mechanism embodying the inventionor from an inspection of the accompanying drawings; and the invention also constitutes certain new and useful features of construction and combination of parts hereinaiter setforth and claimed.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a view of an accumulator showing the electrical wiring according to the present inven- K tion.

'Fig. 2 is a sectional view at an enlarged scale taken substantially along the lines 2 2 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged detail of the brush structure. 3

Fig.4 is a plan view of Fig. 1.

Fig. 5 is an isometric view of the brush structure.

Fig. 6 is a detail of the entering mechanism of the accumulator with parts in operative position.

The particular accumulator to which the present improvements are applied is shown and described in my copending application Serial No. 44,554, filed October 11, 1935. As the particular form of actuating mechanism is not part of the present invention, a brief description of the operation will sufiice.

In Fig. l, the plate I0 supports two denominational orders of an accumulator, an upper unit and a lower unit. In Fig. ,1, the upper unit is shown with the electrical readout wiring of the invention in position while the lower unit has the wiring broken away to show the adding mechanism. Both units are identical in structure and are mounted on the common plate II] for convenience. Each unit has a main driving ratchet I l which has suitable gear connection to the main driving elements of the machine. An

accumulating element l 2 carries a spring-pressed I at I9 and. is integral with the armature 2t suspawl I 3 which is pivoted at M. The pawl 13 lies in the plane of the driving ratchet l I and is normally held out of cooperation therewith through the engagement of a pin I5 carried by the pawl with a cam edge I 6 ma member ll. The member i1 is mounted for slight relative rotation with respect to the accumulating element It and is normally held against making such relative movement by latch is. The latch I8 is pivoted pended between pairs of magnets 2i and 22. En-

- ergization of magnet 2! will rock latch it out of Ell ' ratchet l I. Magnet 2| is energizedunder control of perforations in record cards at differential times and the amount which the accumulating element is advanced will depend on the time of energization of magnet 2|. When the accumulator is used for operations involving subtraction, the magnet 2| is energized at the beginning of a cycle and ale-clutching is efiected at difierential times under control of magnet 22. Secured to accumulating 30 element It is a disk 26 which through camming portions of its periphery cooperates with a follower 21 to position the tens carry brush 28 to control carrying to the next higher denominational order. The foregoing sets forth briefly the manner in which the accumulating element l2 may be advanced to accumulate amounts. The particular form of advancing means is not a limitation of the invention as any other well known form of driving and coupling mechanism 49 may readily be employed.

After the machine has'completed adding op erations, a total will stand in the accumulating elements l2 which it is desired toread out to control printing or other recording devices. Where subtracting operations have been "performed, the total standing on an accumulator may be a true number or the complement of a true number. If it is a true number, the amount to be read from the accumulator will be the value standing therein, while ii'it is the'complement of a true number, the complement is to be inverted to a true number as it is read out. Further, it is necessary to ascertain which value the total standing on the accumulator represents. 2

For all of these reasons the electric wiring of an accumulator has become quite complicated and the disposition of the necessary contacts and wires a problem. Frequently it has been desired to change over an accumulator from one which is adapted for accumulating only positive items to one which will handle both positive and negative items, in which case the wiring arrangement requires a change. With the present arrangement such change can be readily eiIected with a minimum of effort and possibility of error.

The disk 26 (Fig. 2) is provided with openings to receive the ends of a pair of pins 28 which are embedded in a ring 30 which is carried by a sleeve 3|. Sleeve 3| is freely mounted on the pivot stud 32 of the accumulator unit and is retained against axial movement by a screw 33. Removal of screw 33 permits the sleeve 3| and ring 30 to be moved axially out 0t engagement with the disk 26. The pins 29 carried by ring 30 are extended to receive rings 34 and 3!. Rings 34 and 35 (see also Fig. 3) are provided with slots 35 which receive brushes 31. Each brush is made up of a number of wire strands of which the central portion is provided with a flexible casing. The configuration of the slots 36 is such as to prevent movement of the brushes in the direction of the slots and when the parts are assembled as in Fig; 2, the brushes 31 are securely held in position. The rings 34 and 35 are placed upon the pins 29 after the brushes '3! have been set in their proper slots and a threaded sleeve 38 is advanced along sleeve II to hold the parts together. Fig.5 shows the completely assembled brush holder. In the plane of rotation of each of the brushes 31 is a block 40 in which are embedded conducting strips 4| whose ends are concentrically arranged to be engaged by brushes 3! as they rotate. According to the amount standing on the accumulating element I! the brushes will be positioned in engagement with one or another of the strips 4 I. The block 40 is-composed of rigid non-conducting material and the ends of the strips 4| extend beyond the right hand edge of the block as viewed in Fig. 1. To these ends are connected flexible wires 42 which are molded in a form 43. The opposite ends of the wires 42 terminate in plugs 44 which may be inserted in terminals 45. The form 43 is oi! semi-rigid insulating material, such as soft rubber, and forms a unitary structure with the block 40. The form 43 and block 40 are held in position by three it at the other end. The arrangement of the wires 42 within the form 43 may, 01 course, follow any suitable arrangement and where it is desired to substitute a form with a difierent wiring arrangement, this can be eilfected rapidly in the manner explained, or it the contacting parts become worn or corroded, replacement oi a similar form may be efi'ected in the same manner. As

seen in Fig. 4, the form 43 for the upper unit lies within a single plane while that of the lower unit is provided with an offset so that the set of plug sockets 45 associated with that unit may be arranged in a separate row or line.

While there has been shown and described and pointed out the fundamental novel features of 1. A readout device for an accumulator including a ring of spaced contact segments and a rotatable brush structure with means for rotating the same to successively contact said segments, said structure comprising a support of insulating material lying in the plane of said ring of contact segments and provided with "a serpentine groove in its face, a flexible multi-strand wire inserted in said groove with its opposite ends extending therefrom to engage said segments and means to hold the wire in the groove, the curvature of the groove serving to frictionally prevent longitudinal movement of the wire therein.

2. A total readout device for a single denominational order of an accumulator comprising a brush structure rotatably positionable by the entering mechanism of the accumulator to one of a plurality of rotative positions, a plurality of conducting strips moulded in a rigid block and arranged with their ends in a circle for engagement of each end with said brush structure in a different rotative position of the structure, a flexible form containing a plurality of wires separately connected at their one ends to said strips and at their other ends to plugs extending out of said form, and a row of fixed sockets arranged to receive said plugs, said form having a rigidity sufiicient to normally maintain the opposite ends thereof in a definite relative alignment but permitting flexing thereof to insert the plugs in the sockets without changing the position of the opposite end thereof.

3. Atotal readout device for a single denominational order of an accumulator comprising a brush structure rotatably positioned by the entering mechanism of the accumulator to one of a plurality of rotative positions, a rigid block having a plurality of contact strips with the inner ends thereof arranged in a circle for engagement of each end with said brush struucture in a different rotative position of said brush structure and the outer ends extending in a single line beyond the block, a flexible form containing a pinrality of wires connected to the outer ends oi said strips with said form enveloping the points of connection and firmly abutting said block at one end, said wires terminating in plugs arranged in a single row and partly contained in said form, said form having a rigidity sufiicient to normally maintain the opposite ends thereof in a definite relative alignment.

, CLAIR D. LAKE. 

